Last-minute drive lifts Bobcats to victory

Boscamp scores winning TD on one-yard run

THREE RIVERS - In a matchup featuring two undefeated teams,
Skidmore-Tynan had one advantage over Three Rivers - experience in big
games.

John Boscamp scored from 1-yard out in the final minutes, lifting
the Bobcats to a 21-14 victory Friday on the opening night of District
31-2A play. S-T improved to 5-0 overall, but only after the offense
mounted an 11-play, 69-yard scoring drive capped by Boscamp's
touchdown.

"When we had to have it, we put a championship drive together right
there at the end," S-T coach Adam Arroyo said of the series, which
lasted nearly six minutes. "It was a good ball game."

The Bulldogs made sure of that, despite trailing 14-0 at
halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, Three Rivers linebacker Jacob Perez
intercepted quarterback Garrett Vandever at the S-T 27-yard line on the
first play of the fourth quarter. John Tollackson took the handoff on
the first play from scrimmage and bounded around the left side to the
end zone to help cut the deficit in half.

The Bobcats were forced to punt after only three plays following
Tollackson's score, giving Three Rivers the ball back at the S-T 27.
This time it took the Bulldogs five plays to reach the end zone, with
Tollackson again ending the drive on an 8-yard run.

Xavier Salazar kicked the extra point to tie the game 14-14 with
7:17 left on the clock, which generated plenty of excitement on the
Three Rivers sideline. At that point, everything seemed to be going the
way the Bulldogs expected.

"We're a third and fourth quarter team," first-year coach Eddie
Hesseltine said. "We feel that we're in a lot better shape than some of
the teams that we play. We've been able to play a little bit better
than other teams in the second half, so we believed that we could do
it."

The Bobcats thwarted those plans.

S-T began its march down the field from the 31, using two carries
for 17 yards by Boscamp to gain momentum. The offense then used a
17-yard completion from Vandever to Cory Markham on third down to keep
the drive going.

Needing six yards on third down after Boscamp was held to four on
consecutive carries, Vandever hit Jeremy Johnson for 10 yards down to
the Three Rivers 23. Markham nearly scored two plays later when he
broke free up the middle, but the Bulldogs stopped him a yard short of
the end zone.

Three Rivers called its final timeout with 1:42 left to play, but
couldn't stop Boscamp from crossing the goal line.

"Our guys have been there before," Arroyo said. "We had an overtime
game last week. (Against Three Rivers) we just got after it."

It didn't take long before S-T got its offense rolling.

Midway through the first quarter, the Bobcats sacked Three Rivers
quarterback Eric Cruz on fourth down for a loss of 10 yards that put
the ball near midfield. S-T then moved into Bulldogs territory with an
8-yard pass from Vandever to Coleman Mengers on third down.

Two plays later, Vandever hit Chris Hall for a 20-yard completion to
set up a first down at the 25. The Bobcats continued to chip away at
Three Rivers with short runs by Clint Isaacks and Boscamp.

On third and 10 from the 11 following a 3-yard loss by Scott Hale,
Johnson burst up the middle into open field and trotted into the end
zone for the game's first touchdown. Vandever added the extra point to
give S-T a 7-0 with 2:47 left in the first quarter.